Got my first taste of Fountains of Wayne in concert on Tuesday evening, and as a recent fan, I came away more than pleased. I was surprised that tickets were only $20, odd I thought, but I guess besides "Stacy's Mom," it's still a rather cultish band. Webster Hall was busy but not really sold out, whereas lots of artists I've never heard of are packing the place.
(Side note: Webster Hall also hosted the first Iron Chef America specials, but I'm still trying to figure out how they got Kitchen Stadium to fit in that space. It's not the biggest of theaters -- at least on the main floor, there are lots of nooks and crannies where bars are set up.)
The crowd did cover a larger span of ages than you might expect, but there were probably as many 40-somethings as 20-somethings in the audience. It seems like there were as many early adopters as there were people like me, who picked them up at Welcome Interstate Managers. That also showed in the reaction to songs -- while "Someone to Love" and "Mexican Wine" went over big, so did "Denise" and "Radiation Vibe." And maybe given the slightly older skewing crowd, "Stacy's Mom" was just another song on the set (not even in the encore).
I was intrigued that it took so long between the opening act (Robbers on High Street -- very passable group) and FOW taking the stage, especially with a 20-minute soundcheck going after the supposed 10 p.m. start time. Maybe it had something to do with the lead singer's voice troubling him, not sure, but he did soldier on and didn't seem that much out of sorts. In fact, until the encore, it was the first time in a while that I could really pick out lyrics while at a concert.
Anyways, I was glad to finally see them in concert (and at a reasonable price, all things considered), next stop is the actual store. If you want more on the concert, Stereogum has a complete set list (except they forgot to add "Traffic and Weather" as the opener to the first encore), plus a video from one of the songs. My primary disappointment was that they didn't play "Red Dragon Tattoo." But that's just a minor quibble.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
The other side of the table
Before I got into my TRASHionals roundup, I first have to note the passing of David Halberstam, one of my favorite authors -- although surprisingly the first thing I read by him was not any of the sporting books, but The Fifties, followed by much of his '60s-'70s history works for a variety of my classes. He will be sorely missed.
Now, on to the weekend, which was my first TRASHionals as a player after seven iterations writing/editing/administrating the tournament. I was both thrilled and slightly disappointed with a fourth-place finish, but in a field as loaded as this one was, I'll take whatever I can get. Besides, our team did hand the eventual champions their only loss of the weekend (congrats to Anne, Mike, Joe and Craig for winning back the belt).
Karma seemed to bite me briefly in the tournament as after I moved away from the South, I ended up losing to two squads full of players I faced regularly at Charlie's UTC tournaments. In fact, after losing that second game (in a row after winning the first seven straight), I thought we didn't even make the top playoff bracket before a surprising upset in the same round got us in there. Of course, we then lose our first playoff round match to the defending champs, which would eventually doom our chances at making the finals despite sweeping the rest of our matches. I'd like to say the bullpen failed us (much like the Yankees this past weekend), as we had leads going into question 16 of all three losses (including two leads of at least 105 points) before falling.
But as with many of the tournaments I attend, it's as much the people as it is the competition. And a big shindig like this was going to draw in lots of people I usually just see once or twice a year. Having a bunch of DC-based people coming out of the woodwork was a nice touch.
But to my surprise, I got to meet a bunch of Jeopardy-related people (including two past TOC winners -- too bad Mark Dawson is now in L.A. to make it three at once) I didn't realize were going to be at the tournament until the last second. That was a thrill matching up even more screen names to real people (in many cases, I'd already matched up faces thanks to their appearances on the show). I was also thrilled to meet the guy who runs Coverville, and even got to square off with him in my teammate Jeremy's audio theme round -- although the entire field got steamrolled by a guy from NYU. Finishing second was as much a badge of honor.
The tournament logistics were solid, and I'd like to think it's due in large part to the blueprint of the event I've tweaked over time. Maryland was a great host, and it helped to finally have good weather to help with the mood (even if we were inside for much of the two days). It was also nice to make a reasonably short drive to the tournament instead of flying, but that's just me -- I still had to make airport runs to get the rest of my teammates.
The questions were pretty good, but like any event, there's room for improvement. Some of the sports questions did border on the overly obscure (although not on par with the Littlejohn Flowers one at Trashmasters a few years back), and there was a bit of an age skew in some places -- although I was counting on my teammate Mark, who's two years younger than me, to pick up a lot of the older movies and TV questions. However, I'd like to think the addition of more video games and comic books helped to balance things out. In the end, younger players rightfully will have a beef over some of the older-skewing questions, while older players rightfully will have their issues over the video games and possibly the younger music, etc. It's a tough balance to suit everyone, especially if this event expands to draw in more than just people in college or a byproduct of the college quizbowl circuit.
It was great to play once again with Brian, Jeremy and Mark, as I think we have a good team dynamic where I'm not totally expected to carry the team but can if need be, and that if there's a buzzer race, it's probably going to be with someone on my side. In the end, it was another good -- if at times exhausting -- weekend, and I hope to do it again.
Now, on to the weekend, which was my first TRASHionals as a player after seven iterations writing/editing/administrating the tournament. I was both thrilled and slightly disappointed with a fourth-place finish, but in a field as loaded as this one was, I'll take whatever I can get. Besides, our team did hand the eventual champions their only loss of the weekend (congrats to Anne, Mike, Joe and Craig for winning back the belt).
Karma seemed to bite me briefly in the tournament as after I moved away from the South, I ended up losing to two squads full of players I faced regularly at Charlie's UTC tournaments. In fact, after losing that second game (in a row after winning the first seven straight), I thought we didn't even make the top playoff bracket before a surprising upset in the same round got us in there. Of course, we then lose our first playoff round match to the defending champs, which would eventually doom our chances at making the finals despite sweeping the rest of our matches. I'd like to say the bullpen failed us (much like the Yankees this past weekend), as we had leads going into question 16 of all three losses (including two leads of at least 105 points) before falling.
But as with many of the tournaments I attend, it's as much the people as it is the competition. And a big shindig like this was going to draw in lots of people I usually just see once or twice a year. Having a bunch of DC-based people coming out of the woodwork was a nice touch.
But to my surprise, I got to meet a bunch of Jeopardy-related people (including two past TOC winners -- too bad Mark Dawson is now in L.A. to make it three at once) I didn't realize were going to be at the tournament until the last second. That was a thrill matching up even more screen names to real people (in many cases, I'd already matched up faces thanks to their appearances on the show). I was also thrilled to meet the guy who runs Coverville, and even got to square off with him in my teammate Jeremy's audio theme round -- although the entire field got steamrolled by a guy from NYU. Finishing second was as much a badge of honor.
The tournament logistics were solid, and I'd like to think it's due in large part to the blueprint of the event I've tweaked over time. Maryland was a great host, and it helped to finally have good weather to help with the mood (even if we were inside for much of the two days). It was also nice to make a reasonably short drive to the tournament instead of flying, but that's just me -- I still had to make airport runs to get the rest of my teammates.
The questions were pretty good, but like any event, there's room for improvement. Some of the sports questions did border on the overly obscure (although not on par with the Littlejohn Flowers one at Trashmasters a few years back), and there was a bit of an age skew in some places -- although I was counting on my teammate Mark, who's two years younger than me, to pick up a lot of the older movies and TV questions. However, I'd like to think the addition of more video games and comic books helped to balance things out. In the end, younger players rightfully will have a beef over some of the older-skewing questions, while older players rightfully will have their issues over the video games and possibly the younger music, etc. It's a tough balance to suit everyone, especially if this event expands to draw in more than just people in college or a byproduct of the college quizbowl circuit.
It was great to play once again with Brian, Jeremy and Mark, as I think we have a good team dynamic where I'm not totally expected to carry the team but can if need be, and that if there's a buzzer race, it's probably going to be with someone on my side. In the end, it was another good -- if at times exhausting -- weekend, and I hope to do it again.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Kicking ice
I've been torn watching the Thrashers-Rangers series because I grew up following the Rangers and picked up the Thrashers during my time in Atlanta (plus, one of my friends does part-time work for the team). However, it was nearly impossible to get tickets for the games at MSG (obviously), but I lucked into a great seat (club level, although I didn't partake of wait service) for Game 3 via work.
It was one heck of an atmosphere at the beginning and at the end of the game, and in between was some of the most one-sided hockey I'd seen in a long time, and I've been watching the Thrashers since the beginning of the franchise. And yes, it did get really ugly at the end, including Ilya Kovalchuk going right for Sean Avery in the third period. Eventually, I ended rooting for the extra point and the shutout to make the rout look all the more impressive.
As for the celebrity watch, I didn't find Avery's main squeeze and cougar bait, but I spotted three different past and present Sopranos cast members -- Bobby Bacala, Vito Spatafore and Kelli Moltisanti, plus one of the guys from Rescue Me. For good measure, they trotted out this guy to do the anthem, so they meant business. Finally, the Rangers made sure to welcome back former players (as opposed to Rodney Hampton the last time I was there), so they're building things up during the playoffs since the first featured one was this tough guy. I've got to see who's on deck after that.
I will say the energy in the building was amazing (although doing a mocking tomahawk chop at the end of the game was a bit much), and even moreso in Penn Station as a ton of people were on my train back to Jersey. The sweep seems inevitable, and maybe I get a ticket there or not.
In any event, it was fun to actually experience playoff hockey at the Garden.
It was one heck of an atmosphere at the beginning and at the end of the game, and in between was some of the most one-sided hockey I'd seen in a long time, and I've been watching the Thrashers since the beginning of the franchise. And yes, it did get really ugly at the end, including Ilya Kovalchuk going right for Sean Avery in the third period. Eventually, I ended rooting for the extra point and the shutout to make the rout look all the more impressive.
As for the celebrity watch, I didn't find Avery's main squeeze and cougar bait, but I spotted three different past and present Sopranos cast members -- Bobby Bacala, Vito Spatafore and Kelli Moltisanti, plus one of the guys from Rescue Me. For good measure, they trotted out this guy to do the anthem, so they meant business. Finally, the Rangers made sure to welcome back former players (as opposed to Rodney Hampton the last time I was there), so they're building things up during the playoffs since the first featured one was this tough guy. I've got to see who's on deck after that.
I will say the energy in the building was amazing (although doing a mocking tomahawk chop at the end of the game was a bit much), and even moreso in Penn Station as a ton of people were on my train back to Jersey. The sweep seems inevitable, and maybe I get a ticket there or not.
In any event, it was fun to actually experience playoff hockey at the Garden.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
The hot seat, but not me
A heads-up for the game show fanatics in my audience, one of my opponents on my first Jeopardy! episode will be on Millionaire the next couple of days. I have no idea how she did, other than I wasn't used as a lifeline but was on the list. Check your local listings.
History lessons
Maybe it's not the worst thing in the world that a bunch of games today were rained out, preventing many from wearing Jackie Robinson's number that suddenly became a minor controversy. I guess the impact was literally watered down.
Honoring Jackie's 60th anniversary is obviously important, but sometimes you have to wonder if the players are the least aware of the impact of the day, compared to fans, writers and front-office folks. It seems like a player being a fan of the history of the game is actually news as opposed to something assumed.
For example, the announcers on a Yankees game gave particular notice to Robinson Cano's knowledge of the game -- of course, his dad was a former big leaguer and he was named after Jackie Robinson as well. YES announcer (and former big leaguer) John Flaherty said that he was more interested in playing baseball than watching it and probably following some of the history behind it as well. You can't always blame them, obviously. Players need to make a living by improving their game, and you don't always have time to study up on the past; you're worried about yourself, not what someone did 15, 20, 25, 50 years ago.
Many athletes like to tell the media that you can't appreciate what they do because they never played the game, yet many writers and fans seem to have a better grasp on the history that frames the current accomplishments and gives a sense of perspective. And that comes to light a lot when former players dispense coaching advice to current players.
For instance, it seemed like a godsend that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was able to tutor Andrew Bynum on how to play center. The fact that Bynum knew who Kareem was and knew that he would be a great teacher was actually news. At least it was a superstar. I was discussing with a co-worker that some younger players today may not be as receptive to a former star of less long-lasting significance trying to mentor them. Sure, someone will listen to Kareem given his history; but would someone else be as receptive listening to, say, Jack Sikma giving out basketball advice? The results would probably be mixed.
And going back to the Jackie Robinson day discussion, there has been some hand-wringing about the lack of African-Americans in the game today. In some ways, the grousing about it diminishes the influx of Latino and now Asian players in the league. The league is probably more diverse than ever before, but "diverse" never just means "a lot of different things."
It does seem like more African-Americans are gravitating toward football and basketball for a variety of reasons. Part of it is the quicker money, and some of it could be the extra attention at an earlier level (high school and college baseball don't get anywhere near the pub of football and basketball). I'm sure there are other reasons, and the awkward presence of Barry Bonds can't help matters.
Honoring Jackie's 60th anniversary is obviously important, but sometimes you have to wonder if the players are the least aware of the impact of the day, compared to fans, writers and front-office folks. It seems like a player being a fan of the history of the game is actually news as opposed to something assumed.
For example, the announcers on a Yankees game gave particular notice to Robinson Cano's knowledge of the game -- of course, his dad was a former big leaguer and he was named after Jackie Robinson as well. YES announcer (and former big leaguer) John Flaherty said that he was more interested in playing baseball than watching it and probably following some of the history behind it as well. You can't always blame them, obviously. Players need to make a living by improving their game, and you don't always have time to study up on the past; you're worried about yourself, not what someone did 15, 20, 25, 50 years ago.
Many athletes like to tell the media that you can't appreciate what they do because they never played the game, yet many writers and fans seem to have a better grasp on the history that frames the current accomplishments and gives a sense of perspective. And that comes to light a lot when former players dispense coaching advice to current players.
For instance, it seemed like a godsend that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was able to tutor Andrew Bynum on how to play center. The fact that Bynum knew who Kareem was and knew that he would be a great teacher was actually news. At least it was a superstar. I was discussing with a co-worker that some younger players today may not be as receptive to a former star of less long-lasting significance trying to mentor them. Sure, someone will listen to Kareem given his history; but would someone else be as receptive listening to, say, Jack Sikma giving out basketball advice? The results would probably be mixed.
And going back to the Jackie Robinson day discussion, there has been some hand-wringing about the lack of African-Americans in the game today. In some ways, the grousing about it diminishes the influx of Latino and now Asian players in the league. The league is probably more diverse than ever before, but "diverse" never just means "a lot of different things."
It does seem like more African-Americans are gravitating toward football and basketball for a variety of reasons. Part of it is the quicker money, and some of it could be the extra attention at an earlier level (high school and college baseball don't get anywhere near the pub of football and basketball). I'm sure there are other reasons, and the awkward presence of Barry Bonds can't help matters.
Friday, April 13, 2007
No Imus, no fuss
Hopefully, most of the Imus hand wringing is over (although he could be indirectly be held responsible for the car accident that led to serious injuries to the New Jersey governor since he was on his way to moderate the discussion between the Rutgers team and Imus) because the whole storm over his comments has been ridiculous on so many levels.
Flax seems to have expressed a lot of the same feelings I have toward the whole thing, and it could be because we both grew up as regular listeners of the program growing up. I think that context is important in how people look at this controversy because most of the people calling for his head (and I’d imagine the Rutgers women’s team) had never listened and would never listen to the show. Of course, the history of offensive remarks is there and I suppose at some point he was going to pay for his words, especially since he was always playing with fire. But as many of us wonder, why here and why now?
Was it because he picked on a women’s college basketball team in particular? I’m sure most people didn’t realize Rutgers had played for a national title the day before, which is the only reason they were brought up on the show in the first place. Of course, it was really unfortunate that Imus’ regular sports guy Chris Carlin wasn’t there that infamous day. Carlin is the play-by-play voice of Rutgers football, and you know darn well the talk wasn’t going to go that far had he been there. Instead, it was Sid Rosenberg, who was “banned for life” from Imus’ show for a litany of problems with drugs and offensive remarks (worse than the ones that got Imus kicked out), who was in there and helped let things go overboard.
I actually think I can buy the fact that the Rutgers’ women’s team felt their season was “ruined” by the remarks because, as mentioned before, the comments probably marked the only time 99.99% of the country would be exposed to women’s college basketball. That’s not the way you want to be introduced to the general public. And while they’ve been commended on how they’ve handled the situation, I was intrigued that the two players they asked to speak at length at Tuesday’s press conference, they picked one white and one black player. There’s eight black players and just two white players on the roster.
The involvement of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson made sure this controversy was going to be blown out of proportion. Rutgers didn’t ask these people to represent them, but at the same time, the team wasn’t going to get their chance to talk with Imus if they didn’t generate the whole storm in the first place. But it’s unfortunate that such a level-headed response was only going to get attention because everyone was screaming "I'm offended" first.
But while a couple of us wondered which part of the slur was more hurtful “nappy-haired” or “ho,” I wonder if the word dyke had been thrown into the slur, would there be the same outcry. Players in women’s team sports often get slapped with that very unfair stereotype (although Rutgers’ first opponent in the Final Four, LSU, lost its woman coach due to an alleged inappropriate relationship with a former player), and it would be just as easy for Imus to say something like that. But then again, I’m guessing Sharpton will ruffle more feathers in this instance than GLAAD.
(BTW, one poster on TV Barn, I think, said this issue got a lot of extra attention because Rutgers is a New York-area team. I'd like to believe that except for the fact that New York-area reporters referred to Rutgers as being in South Jersey. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Where Gov. Corzine was injured -- that's South Jersey. Rutgers is very much in Central Jersey -- it's about 15-20 minutes from my house. For goodness sake, ESPN made Rutgers Stadium feel like it was just down the street from the Empire State Building; but to Manhattan-centric folks, the Rutgers area might as well be on Mars.)
Imus did dig a major hole for himself, first with his dismissal of the initial statements to The New York Times, and then going on Sharpton’s show and also talking about his charity work in trying to defend himself. Remember, you can do all the charity work in the world, but people don’t remember good things about you, only bad things. With that said, the Imus furor, not to mention his firing in the midst of his radiothon actually helped his charitable causes since people like me actually decided to tune in and make a donation rather than give it a slight acknowledgement and move on.
In some ways, the charity stuff and his attention to politics and current events (I can still remember him moderating a particularly nasty New York senate debate in 1992) actually burned him. You can’t have it both ways. You’re either a boorish, offensive personality, or you’re a current events talk show. The former kept him in drive time because the latter -- if he doesn’t get such high-profile guests -- would’ve shunted him to Sunday mornings at 5 a.m. But the former got him a prime spot that made sure the Tim Russerts and John McCains would show up to talk politics. Maybe if Imus had gone the Dennis Miller route and dropped all humor to go political (but still promoting his country and classic rock music friends), he wouldn’t have painted himself into a corner. Or maybe not.
Finally, it’s been a great year for Rutgers athletics, and yet their two biggest moments of glory have been hounded by controversy. In football, getting selected to the Texas Bowl led to the governor appealing the NFL Network to solve their battles with cable companies for carriage. Only a last-second deal prevented the entire state from turning against a cable channel and a cable company. Now, a trip to the national title game is “sullied” because of offensive comments made by someone they wouldn’t listen to about a team he would never watch.
Anyway, TV Barn has some interesting thoughts on the situation, and Time’s cover story hits on a bunch of things, including wondering why Imus gets fired but everyone loves Borat despite saying similar things.
Flax seems to have expressed a lot of the same feelings I have toward the whole thing, and it could be because we both grew up as regular listeners of the program growing up. I think that context is important in how people look at this controversy because most of the people calling for his head (and I’d imagine the Rutgers women’s team) had never listened and would never listen to the show. Of course, the history of offensive remarks is there and I suppose at some point he was going to pay for his words, especially since he was always playing with fire. But as many of us wonder, why here and why now?
Was it because he picked on a women’s college basketball team in particular? I’m sure most people didn’t realize Rutgers had played for a national title the day before, which is the only reason they were brought up on the show in the first place. Of course, it was really unfortunate that Imus’ regular sports guy Chris Carlin wasn’t there that infamous day. Carlin is the play-by-play voice of Rutgers football, and you know darn well the talk wasn’t going to go that far had he been there. Instead, it was Sid Rosenberg, who was “banned for life” from Imus’ show for a litany of problems with drugs and offensive remarks (worse than the ones that got Imus kicked out), who was in there and helped let things go overboard.
I actually think I can buy the fact that the Rutgers’ women’s team felt their season was “ruined” by the remarks because, as mentioned before, the comments probably marked the only time 99.99% of the country would be exposed to women’s college basketball. That’s not the way you want to be introduced to the general public. And while they’ve been commended on how they’ve handled the situation, I was intrigued that the two players they asked to speak at length at Tuesday’s press conference, they picked one white and one black player. There’s eight black players and just two white players on the roster.
The involvement of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson made sure this controversy was going to be blown out of proportion. Rutgers didn’t ask these people to represent them, but at the same time, the team wasn’t going to get their chance to talk with Imus if they didn’t generate the whole storm in the first place. But it’s unfortunate that such a level-headed response was only going to get attention because everyone was screaming "I'm offended" first.
But while a couple of us wondered which part of the slur was more hurtful “nappy-haired” or “ho,” I wonder if the word dyke had been thrown into the slur, would there be the same outcry. Players in women’s team sports often get slapped with that very unfair stereotype (although Rutgers’ first opponent in the Final Four, LSU, lost its woman coach due to an alleged inappropriate relationship with a former player), and it would be just as easy for Imus to say something like that. But then again, I’m guessing Sharpton will ruffle more feathers in this instance than GLAAD.
(BTW, one poster on TV Barn, I think, said this issue got a lot of extra attention because Rutgers is a New York-area team. I'd like to believe that except for the fact that New York-area reporters referred to Rutgers as being in South Jersey. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Where Gov. Corzine was injured -- that's South Jersey. Rutgers is very much in Central Jersey -- it's about 15-20 minutes from my house. For goodness sake, ESPN made Rutgers Stadium feel like it was just down the street from the Empire State Building; but to Manhattan-centric folks, the Rutgers area might as well be on Mars.)
Imus did dig a major hole for himself, first with his dismissal of the initial statements to The New York Times, and then going on Sharpton’s show and also talking about his charity work in trying to defend himself. Remember, you can do all the charity work in the world, but people don’t remember good things about you, only bad things. With that said, the Imus furor, not to mention his firing in the midst of his radiothon actually helped his charitable causes since people like me actually decided to tune in and make a donation rather than give it a slight acknowledgement and move on.
In some ways, the charity stuff and his attention to politics and current events (I can still remember him moderating a particularly nasty New York senate debate in 1992) actually burned him. You can’t have it both ways. You’re either a boorish, offensive personality, or you’re a current events talk show. The former kept him in drive time because the latter -- if he doesn’t get such high-profile guests -- would’ve shunted him to Sunday mornings at 5 a.m. But the former got him a prime spot that made sure the Tim Russerts and John McCains would show up to talk politics. Maybe if Imus had gone the Dennis Miller route and dropped all humor to go political (but still promoting his country and classic rock music friends), he wouldn’t have painted himself into a corner. Or maybe not.
Finally, it’s been a great year for Rutgers athletics, and yet their two biggest moments of glory have been hounded by controversy. In football, getting selected to the Texas Bowl led to the governor appealing the NFL Network to solve their battles with cable companies for carriage. Only a last-second deal prevented the entire state from turning against a cable channel and a cable company. Now, a trip to the national title game is “sullied” because of offensive comments made by someone they wouldn’t listen to about a team he would never watch.
Anyway, TV Barn has some interesting thoughts on the situation, and Time’s cover story hits on a bunch of things, including wondering why Imus gets fired but everyone loves Borat despite saying similar things.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
I guess it's my job
I think I finally did my last draft of the baseball season with the auction for the long-running NL-only league that actually had its roots with a couple of guys from Pittsburgh I met at a summer program in Massachusetts when I was in high school -- in 1991. I found my way into it since those guys were friends with one of my eventual college roommates. And now the league now has an interesting mix of people who have known each other since high school, two of my college roommates and some work colleagues of someone else in the league. So while the fantasy baseball part was obviously fun, catching up with old friends was as much of the reason for keeping the league going -- heck, a good portion of the league membership is linked on the sidebar. And considering this was the first time I'd been at the draft live in about 4-5 years, it was good to match names with faces again. (Unfortunately, Easter-related stuff prevented me from joining the post-draft Atlantic City action.)
As much as I write stuff about how to win at this stuff, I'll admit that it's sometimes to tough to replicate the "draft experience" via columns, advice, etc. And the online experience, while good and usually more efficient, can lack the spice of staring down a guy fumbling through pages of notes figuring out whether to go the extra buck on Shawn Green.
As for the actual draft, I guess I stuck to some of my traditions: spending practically nothing on pitching yet somehow falling into a so-so Mets starter in the $10 range who eventually gets dealt away next year (Kris Benson in 2005, Steve Trachsel last year, Oliver Perez this year); picking up a bunch of expensive bats; and getting Chipper Jones -- again. For someone who just left Atlanta, I picked up a bunch of Braves, called up a bunch more in auction, and was in the running for a few more. Can't seem to shake the city (and it'll be even tougher now with the Thrashers in the playoffs -- facing the Rangers, no less).
One other fun bit about the auction, I decided to have fun with the proceedings and bringing this out when I called up said singer. However, I did not give away the CD to the highest bidder.
As much as I write stuff about how to win at this stuff, I'll admit that it's sometimes to tough to replicate the "draft experience" via columns, advice, etc. And the online experience, while good and usually more efficient, can lack the spice of staring down a guy fumbling through pages of notes figuring out whether to go the extra buck on Shawn Green.
As for the actual draft, I guess I stuck to some of my traditions: spending practically nothing on pitching yet somehow falling into a so-so Mets starter in the $10 range who eventually gets dealt away next year (Kris Benson in 2005, Steve Trachsel last year, Oliver Perez this year); picking up a bunch of expensive bats; and getting Chipper Jones -- again. For someone who just left Atlanta, I picked up a bunch of Braves, called up a bunch more in auction, and was in the running for a few more. Can't seem to shake the city (and it'll be even tougher now with the Thrashers in the playoffs -- facing the Rangers, no less).
One other fun bit about the auction, I decided to have fun with the proceedings and bringing this out when I called up said singer. However, I did not give away the CD to the highest bidder.
Trivial matters
I opted to skip out on the sports trivia contest I'd cleaned up on the past couple of weeks, and thus I missed this cool visual round. Based on the answers, I probably would've gotten 8 of 10. And that probably would've been fine to help me win another one of these things flying solo. Instead, I've been learning a bunch of different tax codes for the multiple state returns I have to file this year.
Touring the obits
It's somewhat notable that B.C. cartoonist Johnny Hart passed away the day before Easter, given that his strip had been drawing plenty of controversy for religious messages in recent years -- as it apparently moved away from the "fat broad" jokes and the strangeness of his characters appearing ads for shocks and struts.
Even more intriguing is the Bob Clark obit, considering that while he should be most associated with the now-classic A Christmas Story, his other credits seem oddly out of whack -- Porky's, the Baby Geniuses movies, the original Black Christmas and Rhinestone. In some ways, he should thank TBS and TNT for making sure his primary legacy will be the story of Ralphie and Red Ryder.
Even more intriguing is the Bob Clark obit, considering that while he should be most associated with the now-classic A Christmas Story, his other credits seem oddly out of whack -- Porky's, the Baby Geniuses movies, the original Black Christmas and Rhinestone. In some ways, he should thank TBS and TNT for making sure his primary legacy will be the story of Ralphie and Red Ryder.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
It is ironic, don't you think
After all this time, Alanis really does know irony:
Meanwhile, here's a live version of one of the best covers ever:
Meanwhile, here's a live version of one of the best covers ever:
Monday, April 02, 2007
Chomped!
I suppose I could only go so far to sell myself out to the Buckeyes, although it would've been nice to collect on the different pools. However, it actually seems like Ohio State was proving the Ewing Theory as the game was going on -- Greg Oden finally has the breakout game and his team loses. Not being in foul trouble actually cut into his endurance. Oden seems to prove a strange paradox that you need him to win but his teammates decided not to show up when Oden was actually on his game.
And as for our Gator overlords, it is interesting they started the same five for both title games. Very impressive. Having a team full of children of former athletes actually has a secondary effect -- there isn't the same urgency for the top guys to jump to the NBA. Sure, they'd like to have the chance to play in the pros, but they don't have the same financial incentive to get the big contract if your dad has already cashed in reasonably well during his playing days. And if you've all come in at the same time and win a national title pretty early on, you might as well drink it all in and try again for some history if there's no pressing need to provide for your family.
Finally, I think I've figured out the Billy Packer dilemma. As a game analyst, he's actually very solid from a basketball perspective. Unfortunately, he comes off like such a grumpy know-it-all, he rubs people the wrong way, especially if he's criticizing your team. Honestly, if Dr. Z were given a TV commentator role and not coached one way or another, he'd come off the same way. However, most of us want a little fun with our analysis since sports is supposed to be an escape and not a job, which is why a Bill Raftery is more beloved because he can mix entertainment and pure basketball talk.
And as for our Gator overlords, it is interesting they started the same five for both title games. Very impressive. Having a team full of children of former athletes actually has a secondary effect -- there isn't the same urgency for the top guys to jump to the NBA. Sure, they'd like to have the chance to play in the pros, but they don't have the same financial incentive to get the big contract if your dad has already cashed in reasonably well during his playing days. And if you've all come in at the same time and win a national title pretty early on, you might as well drink it all in and try again for some history if there's no pressing need to provide for your family.
Finally, I think I've figured out the Billy Packer dilemma. As a game analyst, he's actually very solid from a basketball perspective. Unfortunately, he comes off like such a grumpy know-it-all, he rubs people the wrong way, especially if he's criticizing your team. Honestly, if Dr. Z were given a TV commentator role and not coached one way or another, he'd come off the same way. However, most of us want a little fun with our analysis since sports is supposed to be an escape and not a job, which is why a Bill Raftery is more beloved because he can mix entertainment and pure basketball talk.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Jersey represent
So it's on to the national championship game for the Rutgers women, continuing the nice run set by the football team. However, while the Scarlet Knights shot lights out from behind the arc and played some stifling defense to smother LSU, I can't help but think that there was some awful basketball played by both sides, especially in the paint. There were lots of botched layups and putbacks, and just some weird missed plays you probably shouldn't be seeing in a national semifinal game. As much as I'll follow the women's tournament, you often can't fault those who wonder why there's so much coverage of it as well.
And now with that game over, it's time to watch the first game of the 2007 baseball season.
And now with that game over, it's time to watch the first game of the 2007 baseball season.
Cool as ice
One way to spend the interim between the men's Final Four games and the 1-2 punch of the women's Final Four/Opening Day is to see a figure skating movie? Why not -- it's another Will Ferrell comedy that was funny at moments and silly and over the top in other parts (pretty much par for the course). It wasn't as good as Talladega Nights, but some of the actors were game for their parts, such as Craig T. Nelson, and Jenna Fischer pretty much played Pam, although there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaking of Pam, it looks like Wired went first in sexing her up. And similarly, Geek magazine tries to glam up Chloe. I haven't seen so much love for the geeky girl since those Willow shots in FHM. (And age has been very good to her.)
Speaking of Pam, it looks like Wired went first in sexing her up. And similarly, Geek magazine tries to glam up Chloe. I haven't seen so much love for the geeky girl since those Willow shots in FHM. (And age has been very good to her.)
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